Chairman Jay Clayton, December 1, 2020 to December 22, 2020

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Chairman Jay Clayton, December 1, 2020 to December 22, 2020 Chairman Jay Clayton Public Calendar December 1, 2020 to December 22, 2020 Tuesday, December 1, 2020 9:00 am Opening remarks, Asset Management Advisory Committee (AMAC) meeting 9:45 am Meeting with staff 10:00 am Meeting with staff 11:00 am Meeting with John McEntee, Director, White House Presidential Personnel Office 12:30 pm Meeting with staff 1:00 pm Participating on AMAC Diversity and Inclusion Discussion Panel 2:30 pm Commission Briefing Wednesday, December 2, 2020 9:15 am Meeting with staff 9:30 am Phone call with the Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) Executive Committee, including: Paul Mahoney; Heidi Stam; Cien Asoera; J.W. Verrett; Ted Daniels; and Jennifer Marietta-Westberg 10:00 am Closed Commission Meeting Thursday, December 3, 2020 2:45 pm Meeting with staff 3:00 pm Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) Principals meeting 4:00 pm President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG) meeting Friday, December 4, 2020 2:30 pm Meeting with staff Monday, December 7, 2020 8:30 am Meeting with staff 9:00 am Meeting with staff 9:30 am Meeting with Commissioner 10:00 am Phone call with Jay Timmons, President, National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) 10:30 am Phone call with Tim Armour, Chairman, The Capital Group 11:00 am Phone call with Mike Sommers, President, American Petroleum Institute (API) 11:30 am Phone call with Heath Tarbert, Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) 1:00 pm Meeting with staff 1:30 pm Intergovernmental cybersecurity briefing 5:00 pm Meeting with staff Tuesday, December 8, 2020 11:30 am Meeting with staff 12:00 pm Meeting with Dave Michaels, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) 1:00 pm Meeting with staff 1:30 pm Meeting with staff 2:45 pm Meeting with Commissioner 4:30 pm Meeting with President Donald J. Trump 5:30 pm Phone call with Eugene Scalia, Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor Wednesday, December 9, 2020 10:00 am Open Commission Meeting 12:35 pm Interview with David Westin, Bloomberg TV 2:00 pm Closed Commission Meeting 3:00 pm Commission Briefing Sunday, December 13, 2020 2:00 pm Phone call with staff Monday, December 14, 2020 7:00 am Phone call with International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Financial Stability Engagement Group (FSEG) 9:30 am Meeting with staff 10:15 am Meeting with staff 10:30 am Meeting with staff 11:00 am Phone call with Sean Berrigan, Deputy Director-General, European Commission 12:30 pm Town Hall meeting with SEC employees 1:30 pm Meeting with Gary Gensler, President-Elect Joseph R. Biden’s Transition Team 3:00 pm Meeting with staff 3:30 pm Meeting with staff 4:00 pm Phone call with Heath Tarbert, Chairman, CFTC 6:00 pm Phone call with Jelena McWilliams, Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC); Randal Quarles, Vice Chair for Supervision, Federal Reserve Board (FRB); and Brian Brooks, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Tuesday, December 15, 2020 9:30 am Meeting with staff 10:00 am Meeting with staff 10:15 am Call with Alexander Osipovich, The WSJ 10:30 am Meeting with staff 11:15 am Meeting with staff 12:00 pm Meeting with Senator Tom Cotton; and Justin Muzinich, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury 2:00 pm Meeting with staff 3:30 pm Commission Briefing 4:30 pm Meeting with staff 4:45 pm Meeting with staff 5:00 pm Meeting with staff Wednesday, December 16, 2020 10:00 am Open Commission Meeting 12:00 pm Meeting with staff 1:30 pm Meeting with staff 2:00 pm Closed Commission Meeting 4:00 pm SEC Diversity Council Meeting 5:00 pm Phone call with Randal Quarles, Vice Chair for Supervision, FRB Thursday, December 17, 2020 7:00 am Interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin, CNBC 7:30 am Financial Stability Board (FSB) Meeting 9:30 am Meeting with staff 10:30 am Meeting with staff 11:00 am Meeting with staff 11:30 am Meeting with staff 11:45 am Meeting with staff 1:30 pm Meeting with staff 2:00 pm Meeting with The WSJ Editorial Board 4:00 pm Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee (FBIIC) Principals Meeting 5:00 pm PWG meeting 5:30 pm Speaking engagement, Fireside Chat with Rodney Hood, Chairman, National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) at the University Club of New York Friday, December 18, 2020 9:00 am Meeting with staff 9:30 am Meeting with staff 10:00 am Phone call with Liz Hoffman, The WSJ 11:30 am Phone call with Tajinder Singh, Deputy Secretary General, IOSCO 12:00 pm Meeting with staff 12:30 pm Meeting with staff Sunday, December 20, 2020 12:15 pm Phone call with staff Monday, December 21, 2020 10:00 am Closed Commission Meeting 1:00 pm Meeting with staff 1:30 pm Phone call Nasdaq, including: Adena Friedman, President; John Zecca, General Counsel; and Jeff Davis, Senior Deputy General Counsel 1:45 pm Meeting with staff 2:00 pm Meeting with staff 3:00 pm Meeting with Gary Gensler, President-Elect Joseph R. Biden’s Transition Team 4:30 pm Meeting with Heath Tarbert, Chairman, CFTC Tuesday, December 22, 2020 10:00 am Meeting with staff 10:30 am Meeting with staff 1:30 pm Phone call with Congressman Bill Huizenga 3:00 pm Phone call with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell .
Recommended publications
  • Josh Zinner, CEO, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
    November 6, 2018 Hon. Jay Clayton Chairman U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20549 Re: File 4- 725 -- Staff Roundtable on the Proxy Process Dear Chairman Clayton, In response to your July 30th statement announcing a Staff Roundtable on the Proxy Process, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition of more than 300 institutional investors collectively representing over $400 billion in invested capital, wishes to express our affirmation of the current shareholder proposal process as effective, efficient and beneficial to both shareholders and the long-term well-being of the companies they hold. Our members are composed of a cross section of religious investors, foundations, asset managers, pension funds, and other long-term institutional investors. Members of ICCR have been involved in the shareholder resolution process since 1971, giving us over 45 years of experience in shareowner engagement and the proxy process. We submit this brief comment in advance of the Staff Roundtable, and will be providing a more in-depth comment subsequent to the Roundtable. We firmly believe that there is no need to revise the rules governing the proxy process. For decades, the shareholder proposal process has served as a cost effective way for corporate management and boards to gain a better understanding of shareholder priorities and concerns, particularly those of longer-term shareholders concerned about the long-term value of the companies that they own. This efficient system of private ordering has led to the widespread adoption of a number of constructive corporate governance practices that have become standard in the field, such as independent directors, declassifying boards, “say on pay” vote requirements, and many others.
    [Show full text]
  • Wilmerhale and FTI Consulting Webinar: Unicorns and Digital Coins: Exploring the Strange New Regulatory World of Private Companies
    WilmerHale and FTI Consulting Webinar: Unicorns and Digital Coins: Exploring the Strange New Regulatory World of Private Companies Thursday, May 17, 2018 Speakers: Lori Echavarria, WilmerHale Michael Mugmon, WilmerHale Edward Westerman, FTI Consulting Attorney Advertising Speakers Lori Echavarria Michael Mugmon Edward Westerman Partner Partner Senior Managing Director WilmerHale WilmerHale FTI Consulting 2 Webinar Guidelines . Participants are in listen-only mode . Submit questions via the Q&A box on the bottom right panel . Questions will be answered as time permits . Offering 1.0 CLE credit in California and New York* . WebEx customer support: +1 888 447 1119, press 2 *WilmerHale has been accredited by the New York State and California State Continuing Legal Education Boards as a provider of continuing legal education. This program is being planned with the intention to offer CLE credit in California and non-transitional CLE credit in New York . This program, therefore, is being planned with the intention to offer CLE credit for experienced New York attorneys only. Attendees of this program may be able to claim England & Wales CPD for this program. WilmerHale is not an accredited provider of Virginia CLE, but we will apply for Virginia CLE credit if requested. The type and amount of credit awarded will be determined solely by the Virginia CLE Board. Attendees requesting CLE credit must attend the entire program. 3 Agenda I. The Unicorn Landscape II. Unicorn Companies: Invincible Against SEC Scrutiny? III. Transitioning From Private to Public IV. Trump Administration: Current SEC Environment V. Takeaways VI. Questions? 4 I. The Unicorn Landscape What is a Unicorn? Definition: Private companies valued at $1 billion or more.
    [Show full text]
  • Via E-Mail August 19, 2021 Vanessa A. Countryman Secretary Securities
    Via E-Mail August 19, 2021 Vanessa A. Countryman Secretary Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street NE Washington, DC 20549-1090 Re: File No. S7-06-21 Dear Madam Secretary: I am writing on behalf of the Council of Institutional Investors (CII). CII is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association of United States (U.S.) public, corporate and union employee benefit funds, other employee benefit plans, state and local entities charged with investing public assets, and foundations and endowments with combined assets under management of approximately $4 trillion. Our member funds include major long-term shareowners with a duty to protect the retirement savings of millions of workers and their families, including public pension funds with more than 15 million participants – true “Main Street” investors through their pension funds. Our associate members include non-U.S. asset owners with about $4 trillion in assets, and a range of asset managers with more than $40 trillion in assets under management.1 This letter is in response to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC or Commission) invitation to comment on its semiannual regulatory agenda (Agenda).2 CII’s current SEC rulemaking priorities fall into the following three categories: (1) Investor Rights and Protections; (2) Corporate Disclosure; and (3) Market Systems & Structure.3 1. Investor Rights and Protections We include under this heading our support for completed action on “Listing Standards for Recovery of Erroneously Awarded Compensation.”4 We are pleased that the Commission has 1 For more information about the Council of Institutional Investors (“CII”), including its board and members, please visit CII’s website at http://www.cii.org.
    [Show full text]
  • Chairman Jay Clayton, June 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019
    Chairman Jay Clayton Public Calendar June 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019 Monday, June 3, 2019 10:30 am Meeting with staff 11:00 am Meeting with staff 11:30 am Meeting with staff 12:00 pm Speaking engagement, SEC Roundtable on Mentorship at the SEC 1:30 pm Meeting with Susquehanna International Group, LLC, including: Jeff Yass, Managing Director; and Brian Sopinsky, Secretary 2:00 pm Speaking engagement, SEC 85th Anniversary 3:00 pm Meeting with Commissioner 4:00 pm Speaking engagement, SEC Historical Society Roundtable with former SEC Chairs, including: David Ruder; Richard Breeden; Arthur Levitt; Harvey Pitt; Christopher Cox; Mary Schapiro; Elisse Walter; and Mary Jo White 5:30 pm Speaking engagement, SEC Historical Society Dinner Tuesday, June 4, 2019 11:00 am Speaking engagement, SEC Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference 12:00 pm Meeting with Robert Hur, U.S. Attorney, District of Maryland; William McSwain, U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of Pennsylvania; and Craig Carpenito, U.S. Attorney, District of New Jersey 3:30 pm Meeting with staff 5:00 pm Meeting with Congresswoman Maxine Waters Wednesday, June 5, 2019 8:00 am Meeting with Senator Pat Toomey 10:00 am Commission Open Meeting 1:00 pm Speaking engagement, SEC Veterans Hall dedication 2:00 pm Meeting with staff 2:30 pm Meeting with staff 3:15 pm Phone call with Senator Mike Crapo 4:00 pm Meeting with staff 4:30 pm Phone call with Congressman Patrick McHenry 5:00 pm Phone call with Congresswoman Ann Wagner 5:30 pm Meeting with staff Thursday, June 6, 2019 7:25 am Interview with Andrew Sorkin,
    [Show full text]
  • Chairman Jay Clayton, April 1, 2019 to April 30, 2019
    Chairman Jay Clayton Public Calendar April 1, 2019 to April 30, 2019 Monday, April 1, 2019 10:30 am Speaking engagement, SEC International Institute for Securities Market Growth and Development 11:30 am Meeting with staff 12:15 pm Phone call with Senator Patrick Toomey 12:30 pm Speaking engagement, Federal Bar Association 2:00 pm Phone call with Hal Scott, President, Committee on Capital Markets Regulation 2:30 pm Meeting with Commissioner 3:15 pm Meeting with staff 4:00 pm Meeting with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation including: Erkki Liikanen Chair; Alan Beller, Due Process Oversight Committee Chair; and Larry Leva, Global Trustee Tuesday, April 2, 2019 9:20 am Meeting with staff 10:00 am Meeting with staff 10:30 am Meeting with staff 11:00 am Meeting with staff 11:15 am Phone call with Max Stier, President, Partnership for Public Service 12:00 pm Meeting with Jelena McWilliams, Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Company; Ajit Pai, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission; Joseph Simons, Chairman, Federal Trade Commission; Scott Gottlieb, Commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration; Kathy Kraninger, Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and Andrew Olmem, Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, National Economic Council 2:00 pm Meeting with staff 2:30 pm Meeting with staff 3:00 pm Meeting with the Options Clearing Corporation, including: Craig Donohue, Executive Chairman; John Davidson, Chief Executive Officer; Scot Warren, Chief Operating Officer; Julie Bauer, Senior
    [Show full text]
  • Expected Changes in SEC Regulatory Policy Under President Trump's
    580 REVIEW OF BANKING & FINANCIAL LAW VOL. 36 XII. Expected Changes in SEC Regulatory Policy under President Trump’s Administration The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has a mandate to “protect investors, facilitate capital formation, and insure the fairness and integrity of the marketplace.”1202 The selection of Jay Clayton to replace Mary Jo White represents a significant change in philosophy, from emphasizing enforcement to increasing corporate access to capital.1203 To facilitate this goal, the new administration is pursuing a program of deregulation, including attempts at weakening and repealing portions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank).1204 This article will examine the impact of the new administration on the SEC, and the likely policy changes to follow. Section A briefly describes the SEC immediately prior to the start of President Trump’s term. Section B then covers how the SEC will likely change under the new administration, and includes a brief introduction to Jay Clayton, the new SEC Chairman. Section C considers the relevance of the expected changes, and highlights the impact they may have on Silicon Valley start-ups and private equity. A. The SEC Under Mary Jo White Before being appointed to lead the SEC, Mary Jo White was anattorney at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York.1205 President Barack Obama named White Chairwoman in 2013 in an effort to continue 1202 Nicholas Lemann, Street Cop, NEW YORKER (Nov. 11, 2013), http://www. newyorker.com/magazine/2013/11/11/street-cop [https://pema.cc/7V5P- YSQX].
    [Show full text]
  • Jay Clayton and Jeff Wall to Rejoin Sullivan & Cromwell
    Jay Clayton and Jeff Wall to Rejoin Sullivan & Cromwell NEW YORK – Sullivan & Cromwell LLP announced today that Jay Clayton, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from May 2017 through December 2020, will be returning to the Firm, resident in the Firm’s New York office, as Senior Policy Advisor and of counsel. Mr. Clayton will also return to his role as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and has been appointed as Lead Independent Director of Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE:APO). “Over our 142-year history, Sullivan & Cromwell has been deeply involved in the development, analysis and implementation of financial policy and regulation,” said Joseph C. Shenker, Chair of Sullivan & Cromwell. “We are delighted to welcome Jay back to the Firm as we continue to focus on continued growth of our global capital markets." Mr. Clayton, who spent his entire private sector career at the Firm before joining the SEC, added that "Economic policy, and in particular the structure, function and regulation of our domestic and international capital markets, has been an academic and professional passion of mine for over three decades. I look forward to returning to Sullivan & Cromwell and participating in the Firm's continuing contributions to our ever-changing capital markets." Mr. Shenker also announced that Jeff Wall, former acting Solicitor General of the United States, will rejoin the Firm’s Washington, D.C. office, where he had been a partner and co-head of its Appellate Practice prior to rejoining the Solicitor General’s Office in March 2017.
    [Show full text]
  • Chairman Jay Clayton Public Calendar March 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020
    Chairman Jay Clayton Public Calendar March 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020 Monday, March 2, 2020 9:30 am Meeting with Fidelity Investments including: Abby Johnson, Chief Executive Officer; Jonathan Chiel, General Counsel; and Jim Febeo, Head of Federal Government Relations 10:15 am Meeting with staff 11:30 am Meeting with staff 12:30 pm Meeting with Kathy Casey, Chair, Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) 2:30 pm Federal Housing Finance Oversight Board meeting Tuesday, March 3, 2020 8:15 am Meeting with Kathy Kraninger, Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) 9:30 am Meeting with staff 10:00 am Meeting with staff 10:30 am Meeting with staff 10:45 am Meeting with staff 11:00 am Meeting with staff 11:30 am Meeting with staff 12:30 pm Meeting with Makan Delrahim, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Department of Justice (DOJ) 2:00 pm Meeting with Dimensional Fund Advisors, including: David Booth, Chairman; Gerard O’Reilly, Co-Chief Executive Officer; Catherine Newell, General Counsel; and Bruce Leto, Co-Chair of the Investment Management Practice, Stradley Ronon 2:30 pm Meeting with Third Point, LLC, including: Daniel Loeb, Chief Executive Officer; Jeff Cook-McCormac, Head of Public Affairs; and Rob Collins, Partner, S-3 Group 3:30 pm Meeting with staff 4:00 pm Meeting with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), including: Robert Cook, President; Bob Colby, Chief Legal Officer; Todd Diganci, Chief Financial Officer; Jonathan Sokobin, Chief Economist; and Greg Dean, Vice President for Government Affairs 5:00 pm Meeting with Commissioner 6:00 pm Meeting with Jessie Liu, former U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Roundtable on Market Data and Market Access
    Page 1 THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION ROUNDTABLE ON MARKET DATA PRODUCTS, MARKET ACCESS SERVICES, AND THEIR ASSOCIATED FEES Thursday, October 25, 2018 10:30 a.m. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street, NE Washington, D.C. Page 2 Page 4 1 PARTICIPANTS: 1 C O N T E N T S 2 2 PAGE 3 Jay Clayton, Chairman 3 Opening Remarks 5 4 Kara Stein, Commissioner 4 5 Robert Jackson, Jr., Commissioner 5 Panel One - Overview of Current Landscape 6 Elad Roisman, Commissioner 6 for Market Data Products and Market Access 7 Hester Peirce, Commissioner 7 Services 24 8 Brett Redfearn 8 9 John Roeser 9 Panel Two - SIP Core Data Products and Exchange 10 Mark Donohue 10 Top-Of-Book Data Products 104 11 David Shillman 11 12 Dan Gray 12 Panel Three - Exchange Depth-Of-Book Data 13 Hans Heidle 13 Products and Market Access Services 176 14 14 15 Panel One 15 Closing Remarks 240 16 Doug Cifu 16 17 Chris Concannon 17 18 Stacey Cunningham 18 19 Brad Katsuyama 19 20 Mehmet Kinak 20 21 Hal Scott 21 22 Tom Wittman 22 23 23 24 24 25 25 Page 3 Page 5 1 PARTICIPANTS(CONT.): 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 Panel Two 2 MR. REDFEARN: Good morning. Welcome to the 3 Oliver Albers 3 Securities and Exchange Commission Staff's Roundtable on 4 Matt Billings 4 Market Data and Market Access. I'm Brett Redfearn, 5 Michael Blaugrund 5 Director of the Division of Trading and Markets and I 6 Jeff Brown 6 will be moderating the first panel today.
    [Show full text]
  • Putting Investors First: Reviewing Proposals to Hold Executives Accountable
    PUTTING INVESTORS FIRST: REVIEWING PROPOSALS TO HOLD EXECUTIVES ACCOUNTABLE HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTOR PROTECTION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND CAPITAL MARKETS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION APRIL 3, 2019 Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services Serial No. 116–15 ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 37–398 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019 VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:01 Sep 09, 2019 Jkt 095071 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 K:\DOCS\37398.TXT TERRI HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES MAXINE WATERS, California, Chairwoman CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York PATRICK MCHENRY, North Carolina, NYDIA M. VELA´ ZQUEZ, New York Ranking Member BRAD SHERMAN, California PETER T. KING, New York GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri BILL POSEY, Florida DAVID SCOTT, Georgia BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri AL GREEN, Texas BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri SEAN P. DUFFY, Wisconsin ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado STEVE STIVERS, Ohio JIM A. HIMES, Connecticut ANN WAGNER, Missouri BILL FOSTER, Illinois ANDY BARR, Kentucky JOYCE BEATTY, Ohio SCOTT TIPTON, Colorado DENNY HECK, Washington ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas JUAN VARGAS, California FRENCH HILL, Arkansas JOSH GOTTHEIMER, New Jersey TOM EMMER, Minnesota VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas LEE M. ZELDIN, New York AL LAWSON, Florida BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia MICHAEL SAN NICOLAS, Guam ALEXANDER X. MOONEY, West Virginia RASHIDA TLAIB, Michigan WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio KATIE PORTER, California TED BUDD, North Carolina CINDY AXNE, Iowa DAVID KUSTOFF, Tennessee SEAN CASTEN, Illinois TREY HOLLINGSWORTH, Indiana AYANNA PRESSLEY, Massachusetts ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio BEN MCADAMS, Utah JOHN ROSE, Tennessee ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, New York BRYAN STEIL, Wisconsin JENNIFER WEXTON, Virginia LANCE GOODEN, Texas STEPHEN F.
    [Show full text]
  • Strategic Perspectives the SEC in 2019: the Path Forward Draws
    Strategic Perspectives January 6, 2020 The SEC in 2019: The path forward draws strong opposition By Amanda Maine, J.D., Amy Leisinger, J.D., Lene Powell, J.D., Rodney F. Tonkovic, J.D., and John Filar Atwood Introduction In 2019 the SEC continued to pursue Chairman Jay Clayton’s goals of improving capital raising for businesses and protecting Main Street investors, but in many instances the agency’s actions exposed deep disagreements between the Commissioners and among industry stakeholders. Where in 2018 Clayton seemed to steer clear of the political divisiveness surrounding the current Administration, in 2019 the Commission got caught up in it entirely. Three-to-two votes with emphatic dissensions marked a year in which the SEC took action on controversial issues such as Regulation BI, proxy advisory firms, shareholder proposal ownership thresholds, and the regulation of exchange-traded funds. Two of the measures—Regulation BI and the proxy advisory firm guidance—were immedi- ately hit with lawsuits challenging their validity. And while 3-2 votes are not new to the SEC, the depth of the disagreements in 2019 seemed to outdistance prior Commissions. The contentious nature of the discourse seemed to escalate all year, culminating with the November rule proposals on proxy advisory groups and shareholder proposal thresholds. Commissioners Robert Jackson and Allison Herren Lee accused the Commission of being blatantly pro-business and shield- ing CEOs from accountability to investors. Clayton countered that the agency had received numer- ous comment letters from investors asking for the changes. Then at an early December hearing, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) suggested that Clayton had been “duped” by those comment letters, which the Senator said were prepared by dark money groups to encourage the development of the proxy advisory firm proposals.
    [Show full text]
  • June 27, 2019 Mr. Jay Clayton, Chairman Mr. William Hinman
    June 27, 2019 Mr. Jay Clayton, Chairman Mr. William Hinman, Director, Division of Corporation Finance Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street, NE Washington, DC 20549-0609 Via electronic mail ([email protected]) Re: File Number 4-730, Request for rulemaking on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure Dear Mr. Chairman, The International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR), a coalition of forty-five environmental, human rights, and corporate responsibility non-profit organizations, urges the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to develop comprehensive disclosure requirements relating to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues for reporting companies. Today, unarguably, ESG information is material to a broad range of investors. Calls by investors for a variety of ESG disclosures have increased steadily over the past few decades, and a number of the largest public companies in the U.S. are now voluntarily producing ESG disclosures to meet this investor demand. Worldwide, investors managing $68.4 trillion in capital are committed to incorporating ESG factors into decision-making through the UN Principles for Responsible Investment and 75% of the Global 250 utilize the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards to report on sustainability issues. Pointedly, the request for this rulemaking was submitted by investors representing more than $5 trillion in assets under management. Indeed ESG disclosures have moved beyond the periphery of socially responsible or impact investing, and are now a mainstream investor demand. In a field where voluntary ESG disclosures are increasing in a varied fashion, the SEC must develop comprehensive reporting requirements for ESG issues in order to ensure that ESG disclosures are complete, comparable, and consistent across reporting years and companies.
    [Show full text]